We Moved!

Written Lives has a new, online home!

I packed up most of the old articles and brought them along. Plus, there's some great new content.  So, come on over and check it out for yourself!

Visit writtenlives.ca

Things Too Heavy – Casting Cares On The One Who Cares For Us

Part two in a series of advice Casper ten Boom gave his little girl.

It was like flipping through the pages of a book. People, animals, and buildings were in sight for just a moment and then disappeared again. Passed by the train, as it hurried along.

Corrie starred out the window. Her arm rested upon its sill; her head upon her hand. Her bare legs swung back and forth, her black shoes tapping the wooden bench in front of her. Her mind wandered far from the farmland her eyes were watching.

“Papa.” She turned to look at her father who was sitting beside her.

Casper ten Boom wore his best suit -- a brown tweed -- and a matching hat. “Yes, Corrie.”

“What is sex sin?” Her blue eyes were filled with curiosity. She’d heard the word in a poem they’d read at school. She was fairly sure “sex” meant whether you were a boy or a girl and she knew “sin” made her Aunty Jans angry, but she had no idea what the two meant together.

Casper said nothing. He had looked at her, then down at his watch. Now, he began to wind it. Why didn’t he answer?

With a furrowed brow, Corrie’s eyes returned to the window and she wondered, harder than ever, what the word meant.

Finally, the train pulled into the station. They were home. Casper rose from his seat and lifted his briefcase down from the rack overhead. He set the leather bag on the floor. “Will you carry that for me, Corrie?”

Corrie looked at him in surprise. Casper was a watch maker; his case, full of clock parts, was much too heavy for her! Nevertheless, she obeyed. She took hold of the handle and tried with all her might to lift the bag, but she couldn’t even get it off the ground.

“Papa, it’s too heavy for me.”

Casper smiled. “Yes.” He reached down and lifted the briefcase himself. “And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It's the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now, you must trust me to carry it for you.”

Corrie knew he was talking about her question -- he had answered it. At least, he had explained why he didn’t answer it. 

A Father’s Wisdom

Casper was a good father.

He knew his little girl well. He knew what she was and wasn’t ready to understand. He knew it was his role to protect her and carry the things she was not ready to bear.

Corrie’s question didn’t force his hand. He knew she didn’t need an explanation – she wasn’t ready to receive the knowledge she was asking for. So, as a good father, he said nothing. Nothing except “trust me.”

Corrie did.

In her own telling of the story, Corrie recollected: “I was satisfied. More than satisfied – wonderfully at peace. There were answers to this and all my hard questions – for now I was content to leave them in my father’s keeping.”

The One Who Bears Our Burdens

 Corrie later learned she could trust her Heavenly Father in the same way.

When Corrie was in her fifties, she and several members of her family were arrested by the Nazi’s for hiding Jews. She and her sister, Betsie were sent to Ravensbruck, an infamous extermination camp in Germany. Here, they were daily surrounded by terrible cruelty and seemingly needless suffering. In the face of these things, Corrie constantly recalled the lesson her father had taught her that day on the train.

“I seized Betsie’s arm as the command came to march again, more to steady myself than her. It was Father’s traincase once again. Such cruelty was too much to grasp, too much to bear. Heavenly Father, carry it for me!”

That prayer was often on Corrie’s lips.

She didn’t dwell on the evil. She didn’t allow it to fill her thoughts. She didn’t try to understand it. Instead she entrusted it to her Father again and again.

In Conclusion

“It would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load.” Casper had said.

In the midst of a world full of impurity and sin, Corrie’s father was there to shelter her. In the midst of a world full of cruelty and suffering, her Heavenly Father did the same.

The terrible circumstances of Ravensbruck were not Corrie’s to carry. They would have been too heavy for her. She cast these cares on the One who cared for her and found peace.

If you’re carrying a load that is too heavy for you, know that you don’t have to. You too have a good Father, will you trust the heavy things to His keeping?

In Christ

Quiana

*Facts and quotes were taken from Corrie ten Boom’s book, The Hiding Place.

When Taking the Train – Living in the Present, Trusting in God’s Provision

Part one in a series of advice Casper ten Boom gave his little girl.

Corrie pulled the covers right up to her chin. She tossed and turned trying to get comfortable. Beside her, Nollie lay quietly.

With a tired sigh, she shut her eyes. She could see the Hoog’s baby as clearly as if she were looking into its cradle again. It was so still – as if it were sleeping, but it wasn’t sleeping. She remembered how cold the little fingers had felt and…

She screamed.

In a moment, the door of the little room swung open. “Corrie?”

Casper ten Boom had been making his way up the stairs to tuck his daughters in, as he did every night.

Usually, Corrie lay still waiting for him to fix her covers, put his hand on her head, and pray over her. Tonight, she jumped up and flung her arms around his neck as soon as he sat down on the bed. Tears were streaming down her face. “I need you!” She cried. “You can’t die! You can’t!”

 Nollie rubbed her eyes as she sat up, “Mama took us to see Mrs. Hoog today.” She explained. “The baby was still in its cradle. The baby who died.”

Casper lifted his youngest daughter’s chin. “Tell me, Corrie,” he whispered, “when we take the train to Amsterdam, when do I give you your ticket?”

The answer came through stifled sobs, “Just before we get on.”

He nodded. “Exactly, and our wise Father in heaven knows when we are going to need things too. Don’t run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need just in time.”

To Everything There Is A Season

“…A time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to gain, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.” (Ecclesiastes iii.1-8)

As Casper ten Boom reminded his little girl of this truth, he added a comforting reminder. As you walk through each season God will give you what you need to face it.

Like Corrie, we often feel afraid. We feel weak and unequipped. But we shouldn’t.

In Matthew vi.8, Jesus said “your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” If we were left on our own to face these things — life, death, planting, harvest, killing, healing etc. —  we would be right to be afraid.

We are weak. We are unequipped. But we are not alone and that changes everything!

Today’s Load

In Matthew vi.34 Jesus said, “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

We are told to take each day at a time and take thought only for that day. Do you do that? Do you live in the present season? In today?

If you’re like me, you probably add tomorrow’s worry on as well. Not only tomorrow’s but also worry for the day after and the one after that. We think, plan, and worry weeks, months, and even years ahead.

In Casper ten Boom’s words, we’ve run out ahead of God. Is it any wonder that the load feels too heavy for us?

“Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength — carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” – Corrie ten Boom

Today’s Provision

“When the time comes,” Casper said to Corrie, “you will look into your heart and find the strength you need just in time.”

Is that true? Will God meet our needs? Will He provide?

In Genesis xxii, God asked Abraham to take his son, Isaac up to Mount Moriah and offer him up as a sacrifice. As they were walking up the mountain, wood and fire in hand, Isaac asked his father a question. He said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

Abraham answered, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.”

Abraham was confident God had what was needed. Confident God would provide. However, they reached the summit without seeing that provision. They built the altar, arranged the wood, and bound Isaac – still no provision. It wasn’t until Abraham raised the knife to kill his son — the son on whom all God’s promises rested — that the Angel of the Lord called out to stop him. 

Only in the moment provision was needed was provision supplied. Then, just as Abraham said, God provided the lamb for the burnt offering – the ram caught in the thicket.

God’s provision for Abraham came just in time – it wasn’t early and it wasn’t late.

Let’s follow Abraham’s example and trust God will provide. Let’s take Casper ten Boom’s advice and not run ahead of God. Let’s live in today, carrying today’s load with today’s provision.

In Christ

Quiana

*Scripture references in NKJV unless otherwise noted.

*The story above is written in a historical fiction format but is entirely based off of Corrie ten Boom’s own account as she recorded in her book, The Hiding Place.